Britain should regain control of its borders by pulling out of the EU’s free movement of labour system, a senior Tory MP urged today.

Liam Fox called for the step as part of a reformed “open and shut” immigration policy to attract thousands more highly skilled workers while closing the door to people seeking to arrive for family, social or cultural reasons.

“Nobody should assume they have the right to come to our country because they have relatives already here or because they happen to reside in some remote corner of the European Union,” he was set to say in a speech in today.

“I want to see a Conservative Government, with a majority, re-elected and I’m happy to do inside or outside Government whatever ... that I’m asked to. I just want us to win,” he said. While supporting David Cameron’s strategy to negotiate a new EU relationship for Britain, he is ready to advocate pulling out if EU leaders insist on keeping the Treaty of Rome vow for an “ever closer union”.